


as the river flows

by ethandiesofdysentery



Category: Unus Annus - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (eventually) - Freeform, Alternate Universe, F/M, Healthy Polyamory, I believe in Amy Nelson superiority, M/M, Magical Realism, Multi, Sort of? - Freeform, unus annus au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ethandiesofdysentery/pseuds/ethandiesofdysentery
Summary: In which Unus Annus is a god, Amy is not, and Mark and Ethan need to date for the sake of the universe.(An Amy-centric Unus Annus AU)
Relationships: Amy Nelson/Mark Fischbach, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor/Amy Nelson
Comments: 29
Kudos: 79





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to the timestream au!! a combination of me loving women, me loving Amy, and that one time Amy tweeted about staying up late shooting dumb videos with “people I love”. and, yknow, unus annus. 
> 
> this au has a playlist! here it is: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00Sm6l5L5i5q0Bss7pcDB6?si=UZPE3cTNTD-_TBzmoApcow  
> some of the songs are there as a joke, some are just a vibe, and some directly coordinate to the story! 
> 
> anyways. please like this. I’ve planned way too much for it and it has quickly become a passion project. oops. 
> 
> thanks!  
> \- syd

Amy Nelson is having a fever dream.

At least, she must be, because she can’t think of any other explanation as to why she’s awoken lying against a white tree in a field of black grass growing from white dirt while the sound of gentle wind and bubbling water reach her ears from somewhere out of sight. She feels like she’s woken up in an old black-and-white movie, except it’s all too bright for that. _Far_ too bright for that. She glances down, almost expecting herself to in black and white too, but she’s still in full color, wearing the same pink hoodie and blue sweatpants she fell asleep in. The ground feels damp against her legs, but when she raises one to look at the underside, it’s perfectly dry. 

Amy grabs a hold of the tree, her hand meeting unnaturally smooth white bark. Luckily, it’s just rough enough to get a grip and pull herself into a standing position. She digs her bare feet almost impulsively into the strange dirt, which feels a little like wet sand. Looking up, she finds the source of the watery noise - at first, it looks to be a river, but upon further inspection...not quite. 

Rather than water, the riverbanks are teeming with thousands upon thousands of what appear to be black and white threads, tangling and untangling as they flow. Amy stares in awe at the waving strings, so entranced that she almost doesn't hear the voice behind her. Almost.

"Pretty, isn't it?" The voice is strange, echoing, terrifying and comforting. It sounds like infinite people speaking at once in perfect harmony. When Amy turns around, she finds that the person the voice belongs to is just as weird.

The figure stands what must be at least six feet tall, and wears a crisp white suit with an equally crisp black pocket square. Underneath the jacket is a black button up shirt, and on their feet, standing out from the rest of the ensemble, are chunky black combat boots. Amy's eyes trail up the body to meet an equally unusual face. The figure's face is mostly black - as in pure, pitch black - but marked with a couple white spots. One of their eyes is black with a pristine white pupil, and the other is the opposite. That face is framed by short, spiky white hair, black at the ends like some kind of inverted frosted tips. Amy blinks once, twice, as if doing so will clean her eyes and then she'll see clearly and/or wake up, but nothing changes. 

When Amy doesn't respond, the figure just extends a hand. "Unus Annus. Pleased to meet you."

Amy cautiously returns the gesture, gripping the slender, pitch black hand in her own. It's only after she's done this that her brain starts to function again - albeit slowly.

"Unus Ah...um...sorry, is that your _name_?" she blurts out, instantly regretting it. But the figure doesn't seem bothered. In fact, they laugh.

"Of course it is," they say. "But just Unus is fine. Or Annus. Or the whole thing." They must see Amy’s confusion written plain on her face, because they continue, “Just call me Unus.”

“Okay.” Amy can’t figure out what to do. For a fever dream, this feels really, really real. She looks Unus up and down, trying to figure out how to process them, and stupidly enough, the first thing she manages to say is, “Uh, are you a...um.” She realizes she’s about to sound really assumptive and stops, but Unus seems to have gotten the gist. 

“No, I’m not,” they say, smiling as one would smile at a five year old asking why the sky is blue. “But lately I’ve been presenting myself as a woman.”

Amy flounders for a moment before simply managing, “That’s a roundabout way of saying you use she/her pronouns.”

Unus chuckles, and turns away, gesturing with her white hand towards the river. “Follow me.”

Amy does, not sure how to say no to the imposing figure in front of her. The two of them reach the riverbank. Upon closer inspection, the river is exactly what it had looked like from afar - a pulsing flow of black and white threads. Amy can’t help but gasp. It’s unsettling in the most gorgeous way. 

“Those are timelines,” Unus says, resting a hand on Amy’s shoulder. Amy barely notices the touch. “Every possible iteration of reality. They run through the river and on into infinity.” Amy can’t see Unus’s face, but she can still picture the way it falls. “Or they’re supposed to. Something is coming, Amy Nelson.” When Unus says her name, Amy turns to face her, meeting her abnormal eyes. She looks crestfallen. “A year from now, thousands end, all at once. You need to stop this. You need to steer time onto the right path.”

Amy’s eyes snap wide open. “ _Me_? Why me? What am I supposed to do?”

Unus gestures to the river again, and Amy’s gaze follows. “All the timelines that continue onwards past that moment have one thing in common.” She turns to Amy again, locking her in a death stare. “Amy, you need to get Mark and Ethan to fall in love with each other.”

“ _Excuse me_?” Okay, Amy is right back to being absolutely sure this is a fever dream. These are exactly the kind of illogical jumps that a fever-ridden brain would orchestrate. 

“In every timeline that doesn’t end, Mark and Ethan fall in love and end up with each other,” Unus tells her. “You need to make that happen.”

“I-“ Amy shakes her head, backing up from the bank. “You’re telling me my boyfriend falling in love with his best friend will save the universe.”

Unus blinks. “Well, yes.”

Amy rubs her hand down her face. “Okay. I’m going insane. I’m going to wake up now and be done with this _really weird_ dream.”

Unus crosses her arms over her chest, raising her chin as if in challenge. “Tomorrow Mark will pitch you a new idea he and Ethan have been working on. I may have slipped them...a suggestion.” She, inexplicably, winks. “It’s the perfect opportunity, Amy. You’ll see. And then I’ll see you tomorrow night.” 

Amy opens her mouth and raises a finger, about to protest, but Unus just winks again. 

And then she wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is a bit short! it’s just a little prologue. ANYWAYS!
> 
> thanks for reading!! if you like this you should 1) leave a comment and 2) subscribe to me on YouTube (clouttail) there’s a lil teaser for this up there and I’m planning on making at least one animatic to go with it so!! look forward to that ! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow you guys really liked this?? i was hoping for it but im so happy about it nonetheless!! so here's chapter two!!
> 
> and to clarify - this fic is most certainly About amy, not just in her pov. in case it wasn't clear, in this au, unus annus is amy's counterpart rather than unus and annus being ethan and mark's counterparts. you'll see.
> 
> (this fic just got. a lot weirder to write for Personal Reasons and anyone following the multiplayer mode series can probably PRETTY DIRECTLY put that together. but it's ok this is Fine. im living.)
> 
> love yall!  
> -syd <3

Amy wakes up, in bed with Mark and the dogs, in a cold sweat. She gasps in air as if she's just realized she hasn't been breathing for a good few hours. The dream is still fresh in her mind. _Weirdly_ fresh in her mind. She's not usually one to remember her dreams in such detail, but apparently she is now. It's in such detail, in fact, that it feels like it really happened.

Mark, upon further inspection, is actually awake already, propped up against the pillow with one hand scrolling through his phone as the other scratches Henry behind the ears. Chica, ever the daddy's girl, is thoroughly licking it, trying to get Mark to pet her instead. 

"Morning, babe," Amy says, sitting up as well and leaning over to rest her head on Mark's shoulder. He responds by kissing her on top of her head.

"Morning," he replies, smiling against her hair. Sitting back up, he says, "Hey, just so you know, Eth is coming over today. Are you okay to film for us?"

The deja vu hits Amy in the chest, _hard_. "No Tyler?" When Ethan comes over and Amy's asked to film, it's almost exclusively for Markiplier Makes. But if Tyler isn't coming over...

"No, Ethan and I had this great new project idea, actually," Mark answers, casually, not realizing that for his girlfriend, it's the exact opposite of casual. "One sec." He hops out of bed and crosses the room to get his laptop. Amy's heart is going to beat out of her chest. She can hear the silky smooth, echoing voice from her dreams as if it's whispering directly in her ear. _Tomorrow Mark will pitch you a new idea he and Ethan have been working on._ Either this is the biggest coincidence ever, or...

She's shocked out of her thoughts by Chica licking her directly in the mouth. She laughs, pushing the excitable dog's face away from her. "Okay, okay, girl. Calm down."

Mark plops back down into bed, scrolling through something on his laptop as he does. "Hang on. I was about to put up a promo yesterday, but I wanted to make sure you'd be okay as our camerawoman first...uh..." He finally stops scrolling and clicks on something. "Okay, here."

The second Amy lays eyes on the video he's showing her, she can't concentrate enough to hear a single word being said. All she sees is Mark and Ethan in crisp black and white suits - Mark's outfit is looking _all too familiar_ \- and a black and white background and all she hears is Mark, next to her, saying, "It's called Unus Annus." He continues, she thinks, but she can't concentrate. Mark pitching a new idea after that dream wasn't too weird - Mark is always pitching new ideas, whether or not they end up going through. But the name. The _name_.

There's not any way this can be a coincidence. Not anymore.

 _I may have slipped them...a suggestion._ Amy shudders.

"Ames? You good?" Amy startles at the sound of Mark's voice, and turns to meet his eyes. He looks concerned. She forces a smile and nods. 

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking," she replies, her smile becoming just a little more genuine as she sees the worry leave Mark's face. Part of her wants to end this nightmare and say something like _I don't know, seems like a big project_ or _are you sure people will watch it_ , but if anyone can pull off a big project, it's Mark and Ethan, and of _course_ people will watch. They'll watch anything Mark does - Amy gets it. The man is _captivating_. And besides, as much as she wants to say something stupid like that and put an end to this nightmare right then and there, if Unus was real and the dream was real...so is the imminent end of the entire universe as she knows it. And it's also real that the only way to stop it is...

"It sounds awesome, Mark," she finally says, and Mark smiles. 

"It's _gonna_ be awesome," he replies with absolute certainty. "And besides, I've been wanting an excuse to spend more time with Ethan lately. He's really a great guy." 

(Well, "he's really a great guy" is what Mark's mouth says. What his _eyes_ seem to say is...a little more intimate than that. Amy is starting to think that this isn't going to be difficult at all.) 

She doesn't express any of that, though. She just nods. "Yeah, I love the guy. I'll be happy to see more of him." She's really relieved she doesn't have to see what _her_ eyes are saying right now. That's a whole other can of worms. 

"Alright, I'm gonna go start the coffee," Mark says, slipping out of bed, closing his laptop and slipping it under his arm. "So you're good to film for us?" 

Amy nods weakly. She's going to have to be there as much as possible if she's gonna pull this off. _Holy shit, this is real_. "Yeah," she says as enthusiastically as she can manage. "If you're handling coffee, I can do breakfast." 

Mark smirks. "Oh, don't worry about breakfast. Eth and I will get it." 

Well, Amy isn't sure she likes the sound of _that_. 

"Okay," she says. "I'll be right out." 

Mark nods and leaves the room, the dogs trailing after him. Amy watches him leave, then takes a deep breath and bolts for their bathroom. 

She leans over the sink, gripping the edges and taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Holy shit. This is _real_. Some sort of mysterious deity had visited her dreams and told her setting her boyfriend up with his best friend was going to save the universe. What sort of badly written fanfiction is she living in? 

When she looks up at the mirror, there's a tall figure behind her. "Told you," the figure says. 

Amy jumps, spinning around and expecting to find that the spot behind her is actually empty, and the image of Unus was only in the mirror the whole time, but the strange person behind her is really there. Amy can't help it - she screams, then looks straight to the open door, panicked. 

"Don't worry," Unus says, "he can't hear us." Amy looks back to her, perplexed, and she continues, "I don't quite...fit into time the way you do. This conversation exists outside of your regular timeline. So, like I said, he can't hear us." 

Amy can't say she really understand what the hell Unus just said, but she nods anyways. "Uh. Okay. Why are you here?" 

Unus laughs. It's a...weird sound. Not unpleasant, just weird. Amy's heard laughs described as sounding like tinkling bells before - by that metric, Unus's is like a bell tower. "Just to see your face." She smiles with frighteningly bright white teeth, cocking her head to the side. "And remind you, now that you know this is real, what you have to do." 

"Yeah," Amy says. "Get Mark and Ethan together." 

Unus nods. "Exactly. I don't know if you caught it from that video, what with your mind wandering and all, but the channel lasts one year - funnily enough, exactly your deadline." She says this with a sufficient amount of self-satisfaction, her face conveying something like _I planned this perfectly, didn't I?_ "The clock starts now, Amy Nelson. Tick, tock." 

Amy is about to come up with some sort of smart response, hopefully, but then she blinks. 

And Unus is no longer in the bathroom with her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, y'all!! i appreciate your comments so much!!
> 
> also, I obviously can't include Every Single Unus Annus Video in the plot, because that would be SO MUCH, so if there's any particular videos you want to take place in this, go ahead and suggest them in the comments!! :D heads up that I did not manage to watch Every Video before the channel ended, so I don't know some of them as well as the others, but I'll do my best !
> 
> (EDIT: hey gang im planning on making an iceberg video abt unus annus/crankiplier and i need help finding content for it so if anyone has any cursed or obscure mark n ethan content you should share id like help compiling some stuff!!)


End file.
